Half Broke Horses

A very interesting story of a very interesting and at times, harsh life. Well written and easy to read. It is mainly the story of the struggle of one woman to overcome adversity. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

This is a highly evocative account of a woman living in the Southwest States in the 1930s, describing the harsh conditions she encountered in her family life, and after breaking free and struggling to make a life for herself with scant resources. It is written in an understated and calm manner, which bring the dramatic events, which overtake her into even sharper focus. Knowing this region well, I was impressed by the depiction of landscape and climate and their inevitable and often doom-laden influence on the lives of the characters. Altogether an excellent read!

I just loved this book, almost as much as I loved The glass castle. The story is quite bleak, however -- I can't believe what people had to go through to barely make a living in the "old" days. Absolutely worth a read -- read this first, then The glass castle, and you'll have food for thought for weeks!

A true story of the author's childhood living in caravans all over the country. She brings to life her wacky family, and writes with excellent skill and humor. So many adventures! I read this book in one sitting! Buy it now.

I found the book well written but the character becomes quite unpleasant, I presume as a result of her harsh upbringing. Some people develop wisdom on the back of that.

Brilliant book! I enjoyed this book form beginning to end. It reads more of a story than a memoir, kept me interested all the way through. It was a shame it had to end. I would definitely recommend reading this book

Well written and interesting book about the history of America in that era. Really enjoyed it and would recommend it to anybody. Good book for a Book Club to discuss. I read The Glass House, before I read this book and Jeanette Walls had a hard upbringing, she has done extreamly well for herself in adversity. Brilliant.

I already was a fan of Jeannette Walls after reading The Glass Castle: A Memoir and now that I finished Half Broke Horses I will absolutely keep myself informed on yet more that she hopefully will write. This book is again about her own familyhistory; this time her grandmother. A very strongwilled character; who you will come to love, or at least admire. I already gave a couple of The Glass Castle books as a present hereabout in Holland, and will happily go on doing that with this Half Broke Horses one as well!

A true story of the American west, the hardships and work ethic so dear to many Americans yet without much of the clichés.

Für die Schule und dennoch interessant und spannend.

"Those old cows knew trouble was coming before we did." So begins the story of Lily Casey Smith, in Jeannette Walls's magnificent, true-life novel based on her no-nonsense, resourceful, hard working, and spectacularly compelling grandmother. By age six, Lily was helping her father break horses. At fifteen, she left home to teach in a frontier town -- riding five hundred miles on her pony, all alone, to get to her job. She learned to drive a car ("I loved cars even more than I loved horses. They didn't need to be fed if they weren't working, and they didn't leave big piles of manure all over the place") and fly a plane, and, with her husband, ran a vast ranch in Arizona. She raised two children, one of whom is Jeannette's memorable mother, Rosemary Smith Walls, unforgettably portrayed in Glass Castle . From the very first page of Half Broke Horses , I was hooked. Lily Casey's first person narrative brought me right into the midst of her world: a world that started in West Texas, but would lead her to numerous places, from Arizona to Chicago and back to Arizona, with a few jogs along the way. Through her eyes I saw the gorgeous, yet sometimes brutal Southwest, from a new perspective. I could admire her energy as she trained those "half broke horses" that occasionally came along. And her determination to earn her education in spite of the odds against her. Some might describe her as stubborn, while others can see that she had the stamina necessary for the life she had chosen. A life thrust upon her by birth and family, but one to which she returned after deciding that "city life" was not for her. Her persistence in showing her children the life lessons she wanted them to learn had the opposite effect on her daughter Rosemary (the author's mother). Rosemary preferred living life for the moment, since the future was not something one could count on. I liked this excerpt that shows us the companionship between Lily and her husband Jim, and their philosophy, too, as they watch their daughter after her wedding to Rex Walls: "Jim put his arm around me and we watched them take off up the street, heading out into open country like a couple of half-broke horses." The author describes that she gleaned the facts of the story from those she interviewed, but that she recalls her grandmother's distinctive voice: a wonderful detail she has brought to the reader as she tells the story. A story that I won't forget...and to which I offer five stars.

Al igual que los otros dos libros de la autora, este tampoco me ha defraudado. Merece la pena, lectura fácil

Jeannette Wallsの自叙伝であるベストセラーになった"The Glass Castle"に登場する母 "Rosemary" のお母さん，つまりJeannetteのお婆さんにまつわるお話です。読み始めるとあれっと思われるかもしれませんが，この話を語っているのは著者の言葉でなくお婆さんのLilyが一人称で語る形式になっています。時代は古き良き時代のアメリカを背景にLilyは1901年に (日本は明治34年）牧場を営む父母の間に生まれます。 物語は，lily 10歳，弟のBuster9歳・妹のCasey7歳 (表紙の３人です。）が牧草地で大きな鉄砲水が押し寄せてくる場面から始まります。大洪水の中，なんとかポプラの樹にしがみつき3人は一夜を過ごす。出鼻からドキドキ，ハラハラさせられる展開になりますが，実はこのドキドキ場面は最初から最後まで続きます。 友人の死，妹の問題，失業，離婚の経験（相手は2重結婚をしていた。さらに後に，生活費の為に売ろうとしたダイヤのエンゲージリンクはフェイク物）など次々に襲いかかる逆境にもめげず，Lilyは自分の信じた道を突き進みます。 我が道を突き進むところはどうやら少女時代からのようで，15歳になった彼女は教師になる夢を求めて愛馬のPatches（パッチ）とともに約500mile西の地Red Lake (Arizona)へ向かいます。 804kmもの距離を馬で単身で15歳の少女が旅をする所は結構感動ものです。 彼女はその後Jimとの間に2児をもうけます。（長女のRosemaryとlittle Jim。） 長女のRosemaryが著者であるJannetteを生むところあたりでお話は終わります。大胆不敵なLily, そしてそれに負けない程頑なRosemary。の性格は著者へもどうやら受け継がれているとか。。。 読んでいて少しメモをしたくなる様な名言???もちらほらと。 少し気に入った一部を紹介します。 First thing a horse needs to learn is to be a horse," he liked to say. "Life's too short, honey," I said, "to worry what other people think of you." "Everything in life has a purpose and unless it achieves its purpose, it's just taking up space on the planet and wasting everybody's time." この物語はほぼ事実に忠実なのですが，多少手を加えているとのことで，正確には"True-Life Novel"とういう肩書きになっているようです。